On December 4 in Warsaw, Russian archaeologist Alexander Butyagin, who for many years led excavations at the ancient site of Myrmekion in Kerch, was detained at Ukraine’s request. Polish authorities told his relatives that he had been placed under temporary arrest in a case involving alleged damage to cultural heritage and that they were awaiting Kyiv’s formal extradition request.
Poland’s Internal Security Agency said the detention was carried out in response to a Ukrainian request for international legal assistance in an investigation into illegal archaeological excavations that, according to the case file, were conducted in 2014–2019 on Ukrainian territory now controlled by Russia. After questioning, prosecutors kept the historian in custody for 40 days while the formal paperwork is expected.
People close to Butyagin insist the accusations are mistaken. They say he had worked in Crimea for years both before and after 2014 and had recently traveled without difficulty across EU countries to give lectures on Pompeii. He arrived in Poland after events in Paris, Prague, and Amsterdam and, according to an associate, was detained at his hotel.
“This was not a case where someone was turned back at the border. He was admitted and only then they came for him,” a former student told Novaya Gazeta Europe.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called the detention a political provocation. The Hermitage Museum said Butyagin had followed international legal and ethical standards for archaeological research and that finds were transferred to the East Crimean Historical and Cultural Museum-Reserve.
Ukraine accuses the scholar under Part 4 of Article 298 of its Criminal Code, which concerns illegal work at an archaeological heritage site. Ukrainian prosecutors say the excavations at Myrmekion caused damage exceeding 200 million hryvnias. The defense plans to challenge the arrest and, if needed, seek an interim ban on extradition through the ECHR.